Angels and reefs

[Mabu]

I just went through a minor hell breaking my reef tank down to remove a Coral Beauty who ate half of the green star polyps in my tank - since I removed him, the tank is doing very well. I am slowly being convinced that any member of the Angel group is a "crap shoot" for reef aquariums. What does everyone else think? I had one Coral Beauty who left my corals alone, and another that didn't. I continue to see LFS and online stores say that various angels are "reef safe". Are there any angels that truly are?

 

[gazpep]

You're right it does seem to be hit or miss with Angels, for every person who says a particular Angel attacked his corals another will say they've had the same fish never bother a solitary coral.

I'll only add to the confusion by saying I've had a Black velvet Angel in my 120 g tank for about 2 years and it doesn't show the slightest interest in any of the softies or LPS in my tank. It's been a model citizen but that could just be good luck though, and thats just one specimen of one species...

 

[McReef1]

The inconsistency of opinions on this matter is as frustrating as Angelfish are beautiful.

One consistency I have found is that if your Angels are fed very little, they will eventually go after the corals. Of course, overfeeding can cause serious problems in the reef tank.

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Think of it from the Angel's point of view - you're locked in a box all day, chicken drumsticks & various hors d'oevres laying around, why not take a nibble.

But if I was fed a big meal from McDonalds 3 times a day, I probably wouldn't bother...

Of course, eating all that food would imply an abundance of Human Waste to remove from the box... Maybe could get one of those very slow-flushing toilets, akin to skimmer action... But I digress!

[ August 20, 2001: Message edited by: Cheese Sandwich ]

 

[davelin315]

I don't feed my fish a lot (they're lucky to eat every 2 or 3 days) and the angels don't pick on the corals or polyps either. Like good old Forrest Gump said "Angels are like a box of chocolates, sweet on the outside, but maybe really bad on the inside." Okay, so he didn't say it, sue me. But the chocolate analogy kind of works, doesn't it? Well, as long as you don't like some of the chocolates and you do what I do and either put a finger in them, break them in half, or bite them and put them back in if you don't like them (I don't do that one, but I've caught a lot of friends doing that - mostly girls - why do women do that? uh oh, just started a gender flame....).

Oops, forgot to answer the question. No angels are reef safe in general, but many individuals are, even the ones that are supposedly not reef safe.

[ August 21, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]